MESOP FLASH : Kurdish PDKI Insurgents Kill Revolutionary Guards Troops

Kurdish insurgents have killed Revolutionary Guard troops in fighting in northwest Iran near the Iraqi border.

Media outlets based in Iraqi Kurdistan reported on the Wednesday clashes in villages near the border town of Sardasht. – ARA News said, “This led the Iranian forces to [deploy] additional military reinforcements to the region in a bid to face the unexpected fierce offensive.” – Rudaw News, citing witnesses in three villages, helicopters circled overhead while at least 15 ambulances moved into the area.

“At least 15 ambulances were seen rushing into areas where security forces were deployed,” the report also said.

Iran’s State broadcaster IRIB reported Thursday that a funeral was held for two Guards members killed in clashes in Sardasht, but gave no details.No Kurdish faction has claimed responsibility, although local activists said fighters in from the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) were involved.The PDKI said on its Twitter account that more than 10 Guards troops had died in Sardasht.The PDKI is a left-wing Kurdish nationalist group formed in 1945. It announced on February 26 that it was restarting its “armed resistance against the Islamic Republic of Iran” and claimed an attack against a Basij base.The group waged an insurgency from 1989 to 1996 and reportedly resumed operations last autumn.Another Kurdish faction, the Kurdistan Freedom Party, announced this week that it is resuming armed operations. www.mesop.de